Written by former Senate education staffer and journalist Alexander Russo, This Week in Education covers education news, policymakers, and trends with a distinctly political edge. (For archives prior to January 2007, please click here. For posts after November 2007, please click here.) Comments on this blog are now closed.

By Alexander Russo March 29, 2007 at 10:04 AM

Extended learning is all the rage these days, but as these posts and articles collected by contributor Regina Matthews illustrate, folks in the field aren't necessarily buying it: School districts discuss longer years (Year-Round Schooling Recommended Salt Lake Tribune) and days (Longer Day For Young Pupils? Pittsburgh Leader Times). But kids don’t like it (Students Decry Extended School Year Maine Morning Sentinel), and some adults aren't sure it's effective (Summer Academics Not Always a Good Idea, Professor Says Newswise). Among bloggers, American Thinker thinks those plans are just punishment ( A Longer School Day?...

By Alexander Russo March 29, 2007 at 9:42 AM

Over at The Quick And The Ed, Kevin Carey says that salary increases for Master's degrees make up roughly $8.5 billion per year in costs to school districts that most seem to agree doesn't help kids learn more (A Question for Teachers Unions). Via Eduwonk....

By Alexander Russo March 29, 2007 at 9:39 AM

"With Congress beginning to wade into the turbulent waters of reauthorizing No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the Title I Monitor asked five of the nation’s top education experts and policy wonks to evaluate the leading proposals submitted thus far." (Experts Weigh in on NCLB Reauthorization)...

By Alexander Russo March 29, 2007 at 9:32 AM

How to get more good research out to the public and to educators in the field is an important and vexing issue. Over at Paul Baker's Education PR blog, Baker (Communicating research) mentions what I hope will be a useful and engaging session at AERA that the Tribune's Stephanie Banchero and I (among others) are going to be at. I'm also doing a session later in the week about how policymakers (don't) use education research. [Apologies to Baker for getting his name wrong the first time out.]...

By Margaret Paynich March 29, 2007 at 9:03 AM

Out-of-Favor Reading Plan Rated Highly EdWeek Reading Recovery, a popular one-to-one tutoring program that Bush administration officials sought to shut out of a high-profile federal reading program, has gotten a rare thumbs-up from the federal What Works Clearinghouse. No Child law faces medley of changes Stateline.org States are among the chief stakeholders clamoring to leave their stamp on a new version of the education law, which has riled some state lawmakers and educators to the point of rebellion over its costs, penalties and unprecedented federal oversight of school policy. 2007 All-USA Teacher Team USAT USA TODAY seeks 20 teachers, ...